One of Charlie Munger’s Favorite Management Lessons Came From a Memo Policy. At Braun, you could miss a deadline and survive. Skip one word in a memo twice? You were gone. Every directive had to answer five questions. Who. What. Where. When. And why. The “why” was non-negotiable. I didn’t understand that rule until I managed 20,000 apartment units across 11 states. Early on, I sent directives the way everyone does. “Switch to this vendor.” “Change the late fee policy.” “Stop doing X, start doing Y.” Clear instructions. Good formatting. Not all of my teams followed through. They would nod in meetings, then go right back to the old way. I kept tightening the instructions. More detail. More steps. More follow-up. Little changed. Then I tried something small. I added one or two sentences explaining the reason behind the request. A maintenance supervisor who knows why you’re switching vendors will flag problems with the new one faster. A leasing agent who understands why the late fee changed will explain it to residents instead of just enforcing it. The instructions didn’t change. The understanding did. Charlie Munger told the Braun story for decades because he saw the deeper principle. He said you think better when you organize knowledge around answers to “why, why, why.” That’s how mental models work. They’re not trivia. They’re explanations. So “why” pulls double duty. Ask it, and your own thinking sharpens. Tell it, and everyone around you executes better. Braun figured out what most companies still haven’t: people who follow orders without understanding them will stop the moment no one is watching. Even when the reason seems obvious, say it anyway. Especially then